King Piccolo
This article is about the original character. For the other uses, see Piccolo (Disambiguation) |Race=Namek |Date of birth= Age 461 (Nameless Namek separates to form Piccolo and Kami) |Date of death= May 9th, Age 753 |Height= 8'2.4" (250 cm) (Prime)[http://daizex.fanboyreview.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10579&p=263777 Bouken Special character profiles, Jump special issue (Dec. 1987).] 7'4" (Old) |Weight= 441 lbs. (200 kg) (Prime) 255 lbs. (Old) |Occupation=King of Earth (After seperating from Kami) |Allegiance= King Piccolo's Demon Clan |FamConnect= Katas (Father) Kami (Twin Brother/Good Counterpart) Unnamed Offspring (Sons) Piano (Son) Tambourine (Son) Cymbal (Son) Drum (Son) Piccolo (Son/Reincarnation) Future Piccolo (Son/Reincarnation/Alternate Timeline)}} King Piccolo (ピッコロ大魔王, Pikkoro Daimaō; lit. "Piccolo the Great Demon King") is a character from the anime and manga series Dragon Ball, and appears from time to time in a couple flashbacks of Dragon Ball Z. He is introduced as a Mazoku (Demon) in the story who once precipitated the Earth into utter mayhem and pandemonium,Dragon Ball manga, Volume 12, Chapter 135, Pages 42-43 — ISBN 1-59116-155-X spawning an army of animal-like Namekian sons and converting a peaceful planet into a living hell.Dragon Ball manga, Volume 12, Chapter 135, Pages 42-43 — ISBN 1-59116-155-X Later, it is revealed that he is the evil counter-part of Kami; the two were once a single entity. King Piccolo's name is a dual-layered pun: based on the instrument of the same name (hence, all of his sons share the names of various musical instruments), but also the Japanized English pronunciation of "pickle" matching the food-themed names of other characters as well as his green coloring. Appearance When King Piccolo was introduced in chapter #135 The Conspiracy of Krillin's Death Comes Fearfully, first published in Shonen Jump on August 10, 1987, he was designed to appear as a strange-looking divine creature, like a goblin, who had pointy ears and fangs. Later in the series, when other normal Nameks were introduced, it was revealed that this was their typical appearance. At over eight feet tall, King Piccolo was by far one of the tallest and largest of the villains in the original ''Dragon Ball'' series, towering over all his opponents, including Master Mutaito, Master Roshi, Tien Shinhan, and Kid Goku. King Piccolo's size and height are never explored upon, as no other Namekian (including Kami) was shown in their normal state to be King Piccolo's size and height, being that most are shown to be the size of normal humans, even Nail, their last remaining warrior, being at the height of Piccolo's reincarnation who was slightly shorter. Though, it is never determined if he is actually taller than Kami in his advanced age. One explanation to this could be ancient Namekians were much larger and less sleek, as shown from Grand Elder Guru and his humongous size. King Piccolo is also the tallest player in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, the others are Burter, Broly (in his Legendary Super Saiyan form) and Super 17. When he first fully appeared, King Piccolo was very aged and did not fight much (though he was still capable of defeating Goku and even taking a Kamehameha unharmed still effectively making him the strongest being on Earth during that time), wearing a robe outfit similar to Kami's (except black with a red cape and his own kanji on the chest), along with brown light-weight footwear. His main outfit, without the robe and cape, is an indigo Asian martial arts uniform, with a light purple obi. King Piccolo's outfit is later retconned in the Namek Saga as being of Namekian origin, rather than actually having much to do with martial arts, though his kanji is something he added when he came into being which was meant to be the opposite to Kami's kanji. The audience is later introduced to Kami, of whom is King Piccolo's good counterpart, and the two share an almost identical resemblance. Kami's outfit was more or less a palette swap of King Piccolo's robe outfit before he fought Kid Goku the first time, before removing the robe for better performance when Goku forces him to the ground prior to taking it off. He nearly kills Goku with simple blasts soon afterward and even temporarily stops his heart, which may imply that like his son Piccolo Junior's cape, it may be weighted; it was never expounded upon as to how a mere robe could hinder the demon king. Kami never removes his robe for combat, but in a flashback of Dragon Ball Z, he is shown wearing the same outfit with his own kanji on under it. Personality Being the concentrated evil that lived within the Nameless Namek, King Piccolo's personality is the exact opposite of his good counterpart, Kami; as he is presented as a cold, ruthless, sadistic, and power-hungry villain with little to no sense of compassion whatsoever. He has demonstrated on many occasions that he is willing to do anything to accomplish his goals, regardless of how many innocent lives need to be taken in the process. Piccolo has also been shown to have a very warped and twisted sense of humor, often breaking out into a maniacal laughter after causing some form of death and destruction and creating a holiday where he would destroy a city every year on the anniversary of his take-over. Along with being extremely evil, Piccolo is also very arrogant, believing himself to be the most powerful being in the universe, and up until he was defeated by Goku, he was one hundred percent convinced that there was no one out there who could exceed his power. For all his many displays of arrogance however, he was completely terrified of the Evil Containment Wave, presumably due to suffering its effects before, and completely froze in horror the very moment it is performed. As a result, he made it his sole mission to eliminate all martial artists that either knew how or had the capacity to use it. King Piccolo, like most other villains, happens to be very intellligent, being able to think ahead and learn from his previous mistakes. This was shown when he destroyed Shenron after making his wish (so that no one would be able to use the Dragon Balls to stop his reign), as well as when his reincarnation decided to injure both of Goku's arms at the World Martial Arts Tournament (as opposed to before, when he ended up leaving one of them unharmed). King Piccolo also happens to be somewhat manipulative, as demonstrated when he used Emperor Pilaf and his associates, Mai and Shu, to gather the Dragon Balls for him. Rather typically, he decided to dispose of them when he figured that he no longer had a use for them. Despite being pure evil, King Piccolo shows mercy on a few occasions; The first time is when he leaves Master Mutaito to die but spares Mutaito's students Master Roshi and Master Shen; The second time is when he does not kill Yajirobe, who hid from him during his fight with Goku (King Piccolo can sense power levels, as he states Master Roshi, Chiaotzu, and Tien are hiding from him); Later, after regaining his youth and becomming agurably more maniacal than before, he also spares the lives of Emperor Pilaf, Mai, and Shu, and later the life of King Furry (though he kills almost all of King Furry's guards). Also, during the worldwide announcement of his takeover, Piccolo stated that he deeply sympathizes with the criminals. According to himself, he sympathizes with them, because he viewed their imprisonment as being no different from his own, having been sealed within the electronic jar for many years. Biography Pre-Dragon Ball King Piccolo came into being some 300 years before the beginning of Dragon Ball sometime after a nameless Namek on Earth attempted to assume the position of guardian of Earth, he was denied the position due to the evil that occulted within (a guardian's motives must be pure, but the nameless Namek also wanted the job for the power it brought). As a result, the Namekian concentrated and trained to relinquish the evil within; which conspired into producing two separate entities — if one should perish, the other would also. This resulted in two beings — the concentrated evil being known as King Piccolo, and the pure being known as Kami. At first, the name "Piccolo" was a reference to the wind instrument, but then a revelation by Mr. Popo to Bulma meant it translated to "different world" in Namekian.Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 5, Chapter 50, Page 61 — ISBN 1-56931-934-0 Piccolo created several offspring and watched as they terrorized and killed helpless citizens and destroyed the cities they lived in but stepped in himself later on, after his sons were killed by Master Mutaito's pupils, including a young Master Roshi and a young Master Shen who were the only two who survived. Master Roshi and Master Shen could not as much as lay a finger on Piccolo, and Mutaito soon steps in, but is himself outclassed and left to die by Piccolo. Despite Piccolo's devastating attacks, Mutaito lived. After being nursed back to health by his two remaining pupils, but before he could heal his wounds, Mutaito left, in shame because he lost in front of his two students. While Master Roshi never lost faith in his master, Master Shen did, and the two parted ways, with Master Roshi escaping to the mountains while Piccolo continued to kill human after human and destroy city after city. Several years later, Mutaito, carrying an Electric Rice Cooker in a bag, reunites with Master Roshi in the cave that Master Roshi was training in (balancing on a stick while meditating). The two track Piccolo down for the final confrontation, which by this time the majority of Earth's population had been slaughtered. They find Piccolo in the ruins of a city, which is hauntingly quiet, and Mutaito wastes no time launching his attack on him, this special technique is revealed to be the suicidal Evil Containment Wave. Piccolo is trapped in the Electric Rice Cooker and Mutaito dies, and sometime afterward Master Roshi personally tosses the rice cooker into the deepest depths of the ocean. Afterwards things slowly return to normal, with the cities being rebuilt and the Earth being repopulated, and over time people eventually forget King Piccolo ever existed, with the exception of Master Roshi, Master Shen and of course Kami. Some, such as Tien Shinhan and Yajirobe, heard the tale, but dismissed it as a mere bedtime story. Dragon Ball King Piccolo Saga Many decades to a few centuries later, King Piccolo is released from his confinement by Emperor Pilaf. He decides to have all the current and former finalists of the World Martial Arts Tournament murdered, thereby removing all those who might be able to learn the Evil Containment Wave and trap him once again. To aid him in this, he spits out two eggs, containing his first two sons shown on screen, Piano and Tambourine. Tambourine quickly goes about the task, his first victim being Krillin, and he also dispatches Goku shortly after, by blasting his Nimbus Cloud apart and throwing him down to the ground, though he survives. King Piccolo then spits out an egg containing a third son, Cymbal, who he assigns the task of gathering the Dragon Balls. King Piccolo seeks the Dragon Balls so that he can wish to regain his youth and full power. When King Piccolo senses that Cymbal has been killed, he orders Tambourine to hunt down the assassin. Guided by Emperor Pilaf's Global Dragon Radar, Tambourine arrives at Cymbal's last known location to discover Yajirobe and Goku, and in a vengeful rage for Krillin's death, Goku fights Tambourine, overpowering him, and then finally kills him. Again sensing that another of his sons has died, King Piccolo decides to deal with the fighter responsible personally. Upon arriving, King Piccolo confronts Goku, and despite his age he easily defeats the boy (though King Piccolo was forced to admit that Goku was an exceptional fighter for forcing him down to the ground once). Goku is left severely beaten and near death, with King Piccolo's Masenko stopping Goku's heart momentarily. King Piccolo leaves Goku and takes his Dragon Ball, but Goku is saved by Yajirobe when King Piccolo leaves. Master Roshi then challenges King Piccolo (using the remaining five Dragon Balls as a lure), attempting to trap him using the Evil Containment Wave. Master Roshi is able to catch the demon king in the wave, but when he attempts to hurl him into a container, he misses at the last second. The attempt leaves Master Roshi completely drained, and he dies shortly after swearing to King Piccolo that his plans will never come to fruition. After he taunts Master Roshi for failing, King Piccolo is then able to gather the Dragon Balls to summon Shenron. Asked by Tien, who couldn't move, Chiaotzu attempts to make a wish himself to prevent King Piccolo from doing so, but is killed by a Masenko from King Piccolo before he can finish his sentence, allowing King Piccolo to wish for eternal youth, becoming much more powerful than before since he was returned to his physical prime. However, before Shenron can disperse, King Piccolo kills him with a single blast to prevent anyone else from using the Dragon Balls against him. With no one left who can properly challenge him, King Piccolo decides to savor his victory. Rather than all out destroy civilization like he did the first time, he instead overthrows King Furry, after searching for him, to become the ruler of the Earth. As part of entertaining himself, he institutes several evil policies such as releasing all criminals and a more planned system of destruction. He is then confronted by Tien Shinhan, who has now learned the Evil Containment Wave Technique but cannot perform it as the Electric Rice Cooker which would have been used to seal King Piccolo is broken (in the anime, Tien successfully performs the wave, but Drum is caught in it instead, and the rice cooker is destroyed before Tien could trap him). King Piccolo decides not to get his hands dirty, and instead spits out an egg containing Drum, his most powerful son yet. The battle between Tien and this new son, Drum, is in the Namekian's favor, with Tien landing one punch, but with no damage. King Piccolo orders Drum to finish Tien off, but a much stronger Goku arrives just in time and quickly kills Drum with a kick so hard that it knocks his eyeballs out. King Piccolo and Goku face off again with Goku blocking every attack King Piccolo throws at him, and Goku manages to punch King Piccolo into Piano with his crushing weight and Goku's strength, killing his son. A fierce battle ensues, with Piccolo briefly gaining the upper-hand a couple times when he manages to injure Goku's knee using Eye Lasers. He then manages to knock off Goku's Power Pole with an Energy Finger Beam, after which he is able to fire a weakened version of the Explosive Demon Wave, only for Goku to survive. After being unable to destroy Goku with a stronger Explosive Demon Wave, King Piccolo resorts to a cowardly effort; he uses Tien as a human shield, threatening to crush his skull if Goku moves a muscle. Upon discovering that King Piccolo has killed Shenron and the Dragon Balls no longer exist, Goku resigns himself to do whatever King Piccolo wants despite Tien's pleas. King Piccolo then throws rocks at Goku with great force, costing the young hero the use of his legs and left arm. Satisfied, King Piccolo throws Tien aside and prepares to finish Goku off. Realizing that he still had use of his right arm, Goku eventually blasts a Kamehameha from his right hand, propelling himself toward his enemy in the sky, punching a hole clean through King Piccolo's chest, mortally wounding him. Though shocked that he has been defeated, King Piccolo decides that Goku has only won for now and his legacy will continue; when Goku isn't looking, he uses the last of his energy to spit an egg containing his final offspring/reincarnation, thus sparing Kami's life. After imploring his son to avenge his death and destroy Goku, King Piccolo finally succumbs to his wounds and explodes. After his death Over the next three years, Piccolo Jr. would go on to challenge Goku at the next tournament for a rematch. After this, King Piccolo is seen again a few times in the Piccolo Junior Saga in Goku's flashbacks before fighting Piccolo Jr. and later appears in the Namek Saga in a flashback when Guru probes Krillin's mind and in Piccolo Jr.'s flashback in the Frieza Saga. Beyond his anime appearances following his death, King Piccolo briefly appears in ''Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku when Bardock has visions of Goku's life on Earth. Also, for a short time Piccolo Jr. reverts back to a more mindless version of King Piccolo's personality when brought under Dr. Wheelo's control in the movie Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest. While King Piccolo didn't appear later (other than as his reincarnate), he did recieve one mention in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound, where Goku compared the evil alien known as Bojack to King Piccolo in terms of motivations. Power level At his introduction, King Piccolo was quite possibly the strongest being on the Earth at that time, aside from Kami and Mr. Popo. Even in old age, he proved to be strong enough to defeat Goku with minimal effort, not to mention surviving a battle with Master Roshi and managing to kill Chiaotzu with a single blast, and he boasted that he was "somewhere between invincible and immortal" after using Shenron to become young again. Years later, Nuova Shenron would label King Piccolo as Goku's "first true rival". It is stated in Daizenshuu 7 that his and Goku's power levels were 260 during their fight at King Castle. Techniques and special abilities *'Levitate' – Literally meaning "lighter than air skill", the user forces their ki upon the ground in order to levitate and take to the skies. *'[[Ki Blast|''Ki Blast]]' – The most basic form of energy wave. *'Finger Beam' – Basic energy attack fired from the index finger. *'Explosive Demon Wave' – A very powerful blast shot from one hand while the other hand is used to support the arm that is firing the blast. King Piccolo can turn an entire city into dust using this move. This technique is called the 'Destructive Wave' in English translations of the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z video games (except for ''Super Dragon Ball Z, which uses Bakurikimaha, but misspells it as "Bukiri Maha"). *'Don't Get Cocky Kid' – A clear ki blast of a sudden wind attack that can be launched theoretically from any part of the body. It is generally not as powerful as other attacks. *'Eye Lasers' – A precise (red-colored) laser eye beam is shot from both eyes. This attack was first used by King Piccolo to kill a guard posted at the gates leading to King Furry's Castle. He later used it during his battle with Goku in order to incapacitate one of Goku's legs. He uses this ability in the video games Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and its sequel Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, however it is called Soumasen (his humanoid gargoyle-like Namekian son, Tambourine also uses this move in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai video games and it too is called Soumasen). *'Mouth Energy Wave' – A beam shot from the mouth; considerably more powerful than normal ki bolts. King Piccolo used this attack to destroy Shenron after having his wish for eternal youth made. This move is usually spelled as Kochi kara kikou ha. *'Masenko' – King Piccolo fires power ki beams from each hand, one after the other. He first uses it at the end of his first fight with Goku, causing the young boy's heart to stop momentarily. The first blast is intentionally meant to be a distraction; forcing the opponent to evade it, while the second more powerful blast actually hits the target dead on. Goku falls for this trick a second time but is unharmed by the second blast that hits him. *'Pokopen' – The ability to spit out an egg from his mouth. King Piccolo can give the son part or all of his powers and memories. It is related to Namekian asexual reproduction, where the Namekian spits out a new egg from the mouth (his is most likely a corrupt version of it, his son are likely Namekians, which is especially supported by the fact that Piccolo deemed it only fitting that the son gathering the Dragon Balls for him would resemble a dragon, after which he spawns him in his akin appearance). As shown when he gave birth to Cymbal, creating eggs in both ages it takes much of his energy (so much that when aged, Piano feared for the King's ebbing life-span, saying that he might die prior to gathering the Dragon Balls for regaining his youth if the process continued). When King Piccolo had eternal youth, he no longer had to rechant this phrase, hence, he was able to quickly spit out an egg from his mouth which would immediately hatch into Drum. He also used this technique to give birth to Piccolo Jr. *'Telekinesis' – This technique involves controlling and manipulating people or objects with the mind. King Piccolo performed this just by lifting a finger, as it was first seen when he magically lifted the five Dragon Balls that Master Roshi had hid under the ground. *'Telepathy' – This is the ability to channel one's thoughts to another being. King Piccolo used this technique to immediately contact Tambourine to avenge Cymbal's death. *'Full Power' – One of King Piccolo's Blast 1 in the ''Budokai Tenkaichi'' series. *'Kaikosen' – One of King Piccolo's Blast 1 in the Budokai Tenkaichi series. *'Kyodaika' (possibly) – The Namekian ability to increase size. King Piccolo increases his size after becoming enraged when Goku knees him in the face with a boost from his Power Pole after losing the use of his right leg. During this, King Piccolo's strength and power increased, but he was unable to destroy Goku with his destructive wave. It is never stated if this was the same technique, or even a technique at all. *'Magic Materialization' – A magical ability used to create objects from seemingly thin air. King Piccolo was never actually seen using this technique, but it is assumed he knew it since he was seen with the same skeletal-like throne of his twice (the first was in Pilaf's Airship and apparently, the same throne appeared in the king's castle). Also, King Piccolo and Kami, his counterpart of purity and good twin brother, were apparently capable of this technique as well, all the more evidence to believe that he would be capable of doing the same, which is especially likely given his son's ability to create capes and clothes for Gohan and himself at various points in the series, though one could argue that it may take some degree of power to do so, as Piccolo decides to reuse the weighted cape that he removed prior to fighting Raditz than make another. His skeletal throne was alike to that of Guru's from Namek. *'Mystic Attack' – Although he never displays the ability to expand his arms in the anime or manga, he is capable of doing so in most video games he has appeared in. Live-action movie King Piccolo is known simply as Piccolo in the live-action movie Dragonball Evolution, and is portrayed by James Marsters. Video game appearances King Piccolo is a boss in: *''Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu'' *''Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden'' (and its remake for WonderSwan Color) *''Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen'' King Piccolo appears as playable character in: *''Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure'' *''Super Dragon Ball Z'' *The Japanese/PAL Wii versions of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 *''Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3'' *''Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo'' He is also an alternate costume for Piccolo Jr. in: *''Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3'' (America's "Greatest Hits" Edition, European Collector's Edition, and Japanese version) *''Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors'' Voice Actors *Japanese Dub: Takeshi Aono *Latin America Dub: Carlos Segundo *Ocean Group Dub: Scott McNeil *FUNimation Dub: Christopher R. Sabat *German Dub: Jürg Löw *Italian Dub: Mario Zucca *Portuguese Dub: Ricardo Spínola *Brazilian Dub: Fábio Tomazine (old) and Luiz Antônio Lobue (young) Trivia *King Piccolo is one of five villians to succesfully get a wish from the Dragon Balls (the other ones being Garlic Jr., Dr. Kochin, Lord Slug, and Baby). *Early in the anime, King Piccolo's blood is portrayed as red. Later, when Nameks are recognized as a true race within the series and not a simple demon clan as initially suspected, their blood is portrayed as purple, even though Drum's blood was seen as purple before the Vegeta Saga, the beginning of which still portrayed their blood as red. *In the final battle between Goku and the rejuvenated King Piccolo, Goku shows complete dominance over Piccolo, yet their power levels were both 260. *In the English dub of the anime, when questioning how Goku could withstand his power, he remarks that he had fought all over the universe and never met anyone who could match his strength. This may have been a vague way of implying King Piccolo had used the ship in which Kami had originally come to Earth to seek stronger opponents in space sometime before being sealed away, though the original Japanese versions makes no mention of this, as the ship and Kami's origins had not been revealed during this time. Later, when the ship was finally revealed, it did not appear to have been used since it had landed on Earth with the Nameless Namek on board. *In the series, Kami and Piccolo don't know they are aliens until meeting Vegeta and Nappa, since the Nameless Namek lost his memories during childhood. King Piccolo and his reincarnation, Piccolo Jr., (as well as Piccolo Jr.'s brothers) were believed to be of demon origins. **Though, Piccolo was shown to know the language, and some of his powers and techniques are of Namekian origin, even replicating Grand Elder Guru's throne. **Strangely, King Piccolo is shown to know he is a Namekian in Budokai Tenkaichi 3: if the player pairs him against Lord Slug or Nail, he will say "I wont let anybody stand in my way, even if they're a Namekian!". *In the Game Boy Advance game, Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors, both Kami and King Piccolo (after being beaten in a fight) fuse with his son/reincarnation Piccolo Jr., becoming the original nameless Namek. This fusion is enough for Piccolo to equal and surpass the power of Super Buu. *Despite not being referred to as Piccolo Daimao in the English dub, an attack increase item in Budokai 3 is called "Daimao's Power" and can only be used by Piccolo. *In Budokai Tenkaichi 3, in a pre-battle conversation, King Piccolo desires to merge with his son, Piccolo Jr. However, Piccolo Jr. is disgusted at the mere thought of such a union. *Despite being a Namekian, who are stated to only need water for nourishment, King Piccolo is shown to eat food when a feast is prepared for him. Gallery References Category:Characters Category:Demons Category:Extraterrestrials Category:Fathers Piccolo Category:Nameks Category:Tyrants Category:Villains Category:Characters who can fly Category:Dragon Ball